Treatment for patients with hearing loss caused from ear drum or inner ear damage.
Bone-anchored hearing aids are a special type of device to help restore hearing in select groups of people. Most people with hearing loss suffer from damage to the cells that transmit the signal from the inside of the ear to the brain. Usually this occurs in both ears and can only be assisted with hearing aids or in extreme cases, cochlear implants.
Patients who can benefit from bone-anchored hearing aids differ in their hearing loss in that the loss is either caused by a problem in the transmission of sound from the ear drum to the inner ear or a damage to the nerve but only in one ear.
Bone-anchored hearing aids differ from normal hearing aids because they rely on a titanium implant that is placed in the bone of the skull. The bone actually grows into the implant and it becomes permanently fixed in place. Once the implant is secure, the sound is transmitted through the implant, into the skull, and to the ear.
The implant can either attach to the sound processor through an abutment that sticks up through the scalp or by means of a magnet that is implanted under the skin and attracts a second magnet connected to the processor that is worn on the scalp. All the implants require surgery to be placed but it takes from 30-60 minutes and is a same day procedure with a short (several days) recovery period.
If you are interested in a bone-anchored hearing aid or would like to know more, please contact the clinic for an appointment.
